125 The Cat And Mouse Game
"Soulers…" I said without batting an eye, "take this and bind them to these…"
A group of soulers flashed and without asking anything they took what I took out and vanished. And then I kept moving according to their plan, towards their tight trap.
"You are going to die!" the monster jumped again and like always its attack missed. The aftermath of that violent detonation wasn't inferior to all the explosions before.
But that one was special, as it put my chariot in the perfect place of the trap.
"You can't run," the monster said as its immense body appeared like a deadly black shadow amidst the brutal fire. It seemed that Curasee didn't give a damn about the monster's body at all.
"You can't evade," it kept speaking while taking one step at a time, like it was enjoying this moment. "You can attack, but you won't kill us all and eventually… You'll die in my hands!"
It raised one of its new grown limbs and there I saw very sharp, steel-like claws that flashed sparks of fire when they crossed each other.
"You will die!" a vicious voice came from the forces behind, attracting my attention. He was a dragon, and he wasn't alone. He was standing in the middle of a big line up formed by at least one thousand dragon race youths.
"You'll pay for killing my kin!" he added in a challenge while pointing his big axe at my face.
"I want a fair duel with him," a Selvator cladded in shiny white armour spoke as he stood in the middle of his own forces, "that human is interestingly strong. I want a duel with him first."
"So you can kill him and enjoy the feast alone?" a berserker race appeared at last with his forces. He wasn't any smaller in size than the dragons or Selvators, but he had most of his body naked without any scrap of armour.
"He is just a nice tasty human," a sexy looking girl appeared. She had a curved contour with slightly long stature. Wearing a tight sparkling red leather dress, exposing most of her back and shoulders, made her look hotter.
She was a succubus, a race I knew how to deal with.
My heart pendant appeared once again as I wore it. Of course I wouldn't fear clashing strength with another, but against the succubus race I had to be more cautious.
She sent me a wink and a kiss in the air. With the pendant, her magic didn't work, even if she sat in my embrace.
"Kakaka! I see you already have a big crowd of fans," the monster laughed before it turned all serious, "but this little fly is mine! You are here only to block his retreat and nothing else."
Its words were very brutal, as if they came from the god of death himself. I watched the faces of those strong races change, while feeling not a speck of sorry over them.
Who said that a monster controlled by the Curasee would leave them alive after killing me? They were delusional to think an alliance with a Curasee was something possible.
They were sold out, sold out by the angels. But to my disappointment, I had to save their lives by killing that monster myself.
"Now!" Just as the two sides were having such small internal strife, I whispered to my forces waiting for my order.
*Fwoosh!*
The first ballista arrow was launched without warning. When everyone noticed the arrow, it was already too late to do anything.
After all… This wasn't a simple arrow like before…
*Rumble!*
This was an arrow with a grenade of death attached to its tip!
And just as the grenade fell, death followed!
Instantly, five hundred metre radius was engulfed into a terrorising explosion that didn't lack anything compared to that of the monster.
"You are really strong," the monster laughed before it raised its head high in the air, "send another one, that dude can't be easily killed!"
I knew it was talking to the angels. Another attack of that star weapon would come, but who said I'd just run away without killing much more?
*Fwoosh!* without any hesitation I drove my chariot over to the thick and crowded lines of enemies behind. I didn't need to do anything except to let my chariot move with her big ass, smashing and flattening anything she met with ground.
"Release the beam!" I coldly said while releasing the deadly AOE attacks of the chariot for the first time.
The chariot released curved beams in different sizes, moving in half moon arch shaped waves. They cleaved any enemy they faced, before finally hitting the ground and creating explosions everywhere.
The entire scene changed by my sudden attack, and the terror I invited here didn't stop at this!
My grenade of death was really brutal, yet it went off in ten seconds. Unlike the star weapon which could last for minutes, yet it left behind an empty space littered with dead bodies inside.
The sheer number killed here wasn't important, what was important was the ones they killed; the dragons!
The most terrifying enemy I feared in this battle was the dragons, then Berserkers came next. That is if I was considering my entire force. But if I considered myself alone, then the succubi would come first without my pendant, then the Selvators!
Selvators were brutal, yet I knew how to deal with them. These guys valued pride and highly esteemed justice and fairness in any fight to a sick level.
But the sneaky bastards who wouldn't stop at using any underhanded methods to kill my forces and me would be the dragons. They had no code of honour except their arrogance and greed.
By eliminating one threat and killing most of the dragon's strong fighters early on, I could eliminate the Berserkers as well.
However I didn't do that. In fact I left them for another task, dealing with the monster.
Of course the Curasee residing inside the monster didn't care at all about the alliance between him and these races. So when he saw me running into the ranks of those races, he instantly followed.
"Release that damn attack over him now!" the monster roared while running with its gigantic body, smashing a broad sector in the enemy lines without any preservations at all!
I turned for a second and all I could see was a wide gap created by that monster. Good, kill more, kill without mercy and show them your true villainous nature.
I started to push my chariot as deep as possible. Of course the speed of my chariot decreased as I forced it to glide on the ground, crushing any enemy it faced.
I knew this wouldn't take me far from the monster, but who said I was aiming at running away from him? I was just trying to drag it inside this grand army of tens of thousands, before the angels would jump in as well.
*Rumble!*
It took ten minutes from the angels to make up their minds. Of course they had to choose between hitting me and killing much more of their allied forces, or to stay silent and stand idle while watching me and the monster playing the catching game between the cat and mouse.
And their allied forces would be squeezed and smashed by the two of us!
As the red beam of light descended, I knew that deadly monster would arrive. I aimed this time towards the succubi region, alongside many combined races where they held the heart location of this army.
The heart was the perfect place for the incoming brutal explosion. And like before, I simply moved my chariot away and evaded the incoming disaster.
I had to fly my chariot high in the air to regain her speed. Yet the enemies at the ground weren't lucky like me.
*Rumble!*
The monster landed and the beam exploded. A mighty explosion occurred, clearing hundreds of metres around the monster in a span of a few breaths.
Then the shockwave continued, crushing all the races around, forcing them to fall on the ground from the brutal force.
"Go!"
Not letting this chance slip by, I drove my chariot back to the ground while being forced partially to do so thanks to the immense and irresistible shockwave.
Once getting to the ground, I spread over all my warriors without holding anything back. All the warriors were deployed, leaving only ten Bulltors, the Gollems, and fifty illusionists behind.
The rest just went forward and ventured into the deadly battlefield. My orders were simple; just kill anything alongside my chariot and try to keep up with my speed.
"You damn slippery bastard!" the monster roared in anger, yet I felt all this was simply a show. I knew the Curasee inside was burning his life force with each passing minute. Yet considering his big life force, he wasn't in any danger for two to three hours at least.
All this was a show, a fake front that damned Curasee put on the surface to justify what he would do next.
After all, killing me was one of his goals, killing all of us was his sole purpose in life!
So even before the deadly explosion he created using the monster would subside, he controlled the monster to run after me.
And in his run, I noticed his intentional staggering, to widen up the area of his attack.
Dude… Don't be this impatient. I would create a stage for your behemoth to kill and shine, don't worry about that!
During the next half an hour, we kept this situation unchanged. The races kept dying under the brutality of that monster while I led my chariot on the ground, adding more to the large list of the dead races here.
Even if the enemy brought tens of thousands and even more, in front of such merciless enemies like the two of us they held no chance.
And that wasn't the end of it!
My warriors kept moving at high speed, killing anyone they could reach without reservation. My only regret was to leave all such treasure troves behind without cleansing their inventories for now.
Just wait… I'd finish off that damn monster before returning to you my dear babies.
"Open your eyes wide and see what's going on here!" Just after the passage of almost an hour from the start of this battle, I shouted at the scattered forces of all races in the city. "This monster isn't your ally! It's killing you despite its target being me!"
"Kakaka! That's the silliest joke I ever heard!" The monster laughed and tried to make fun of my words. It wouldn't let the races wake up and join me in fighting it. Or else things would become ugly.
Yet I didn't speak for an entire hour to let those races have such doubt before shouting this fact towards them. If I said these words at the early minutes of this fight, they wouldn't believe me.
But now? Anyone with a brain would see this monster wasn't trying even to minimise the losses on their side.
"Even the angels betrayed you! I hereby ask for a temporary alliance, either we unite together and kill this monster or stand alone and be killed by him," I shouted before adding in a louder tone, "send one Selvator to my chariot, let him lead the negotiations of that alliance with me."
Of course this was the sole purpose of letting the mighty and terrifying Selvators survive till now. I had more grenades of death to use, enough to kill at least the Selvators and the Berserkers.
Yet I didn't use any yet. Even during my running, I did my best to avoid the places where these two races gathered their top fighters.
It wasn't out of my sympathy, I would fight them eventually and would kill them all later on. But at this moment the only race I could trust his words was the Selvators. Those dudes took the matter of honour to a whole new level.
As for the Berserkers… Well to win a war one must preserve his best fighters till the crucial moment, right?
126 Come On Board... Selvator!
I kept running my chariot for five minutes before I saw a silhouette running towards my direction with a crew of fifty others running behind. It was a giant Selvator, one with a pale golden coloured armour.
Pale gold ranked armour at such early stages of the apocalypse… that was enough to tell me that dude wasn't just a simple Selvator.
"Greeting to the human race Hye," before he came closer to a hundred metres, he stood in the middle of his men while adding, "I'm here to answer your call."
"Come on board," I said before adding, "alone."
"This…" I heard a few loud exclamations coming from down below. In fact as I observed the team that followed him, I saw pieces of each race in them.
Even the dragons and succubi that I dealt heavy blows towards, they also sent few to attend this meeting.
"I give you my word," I said before anyone else would say anything to complicate this situation, "come on board and you won't be touched."
"Don't believe a human!" a dragon race shouted in insult, "he comes from a treacherous race that knows no honour!"
"My race is all but traitors," I said before I threw a grenade to the Gollems and pointed towards one direction as I added, "if I wanted to kill you on the spot…"
*Rumble!* *Boom!* *Boom!*
The mere sounds of explosion that happened from the grenade was enough to turn the faces down below into ashen white. I crossed my arms, stood in my place for a few minutes while they had to run after my chariot to keep up with its speed.
"I won't say it again," I said, "if you want to negotiate then come alone on board and you won't be touched."
"Don't go overboard!"
"If we wanted to kill you, we can!"
"This is just the face of a bastard acting like a king!"
"Enough!"
Just as many enraged shouts came even from the fighting lovers Berserkers, the Selvator in the lead shouted in a decisive voice. "I'll come on board…" he paused while giving his last word to others, "alone."
"I trust your honourable words," I said, "come, you are warmly welcomed on board."
As I said these words, I sent a message to my illusionists scattered down below. They spread the order to let only that Selvator to come inside while the soulers kept scanning the area, looking for any hidden illusionists or any hidden foes.
"Welcome to my chariot," I said while keeping my chariot running in circles, while the monster kept roaring and chasing behind without showing any sign of threat.
"I have to admit," the Selvator said, "this is really a remarkable war chariot. I saw many dragons on the walls, did they belong to dragons?"
"It's mine," I shrugged, "and now let's not waste our time over such things. We need to find a way to kill this monster."
The Selvator turned his eyes towards the giant Gollems and the giant ballista they operated. From the gleam in his eyes I could tell he was so much interested in my little baby.
"Nothing here is for sale," I said blatantly.
"Ah, sorry but I always appreciate good and big war machines," the tone he spoke with was filled with envy. He pointed at the rear monster without turning his back to me. Of course he was on his guard, so was I.
"What's wrong with that monster?"
"Ask the angels," I shrugged, "they were the ones to bring him here in the first place."
"The angels?" The look on his face told me a lot about what he felt. And that was why I kept myself away from making this move for an entire hour.
Plus another reason of course.
"The angels don't care about any of us," I finally said what I really asked him here, "they are just selfish races who seek only their benefit. Even their honour is questionable! If there is a treacherous race here to guard against then they would come on top of the list."
"And you'll be the king of such a list!" At this moment three angels appeared midair. From their faces I could see they were on the verge of vomiting blood.
Of course I knew they'd come. After all, they never had left in the first place.
"Ah, it's our dear angels," I said as if I was startled by their appearance, "I was just mentioning you, speaking about your dirty work here and the treason you committed against all the races combined."
"We didn't do anything!" the middle angel, the leader of this group of three, shouted in denial, "we are just aiding all the races and guiding them over the course of the apocalypse!"
"Yes, we do everything in fairness!"
"We never betrayed any word given by us!"
The other two joined in and spoke, and they just added more fun to this funny meeting.
"Guide? Fairness? Honour your words? Tsk, I never expected you to have such thick skin," I shook my head in disappointment while the Selvator standing in front of me was all silent.
"Since when you were fair to all races? You treated humans like you treat pigs and sheep! You are biassed, even before the apocalypse started you were already standing on one side against the other."
I pointed my hand towards the monster before adding, "and now just look at the mess you created here? Not only you brought such a deadly f*cking monsters from a dark realm to kill all the races here, you also allowed such a parasite to infect it. Your words? Humph, I don't need to speak about that! Just take a look around and everything will be clear to any blind!"
"You…!" the leader of the angels trembled slightly as he heard what I said. What? Did you think I'd keep all this stuff to myself?
Dude… Surviving this apocalypse wouldn't be possible if such war continued. You allied five races together, and if I added the scary Curasee race as well then things would look worse for me and all the humans.
To survive, I had to crack such a coalition at any cost. Thanks to you, I finally got a chance to lay down my first foundation in doing that!
"Humans were never considered a high race to begin with!" the leader finally showed his real intentions towards humans, "but for other races, we highly esteemed them. Esteemed archlord Fang, please don't let him trick you."
"Trick him?" I scoffed as if this was a joke, "he is a Selvator, not an idiot."
I said this while shrugging, as if I was saying some kind of praise to that dude called Fang. I just noticed that the three angels were showing a strange attitude towards this dude here.
Was he a big shot back at home? Should I kill him now or wait for later?
"My archlord… Please…"
"Enough!" Fang seemed to grow tired of listening to our bullshit. Of course he had all the right to feel so, even though I wanted to go and punch those dirty angels in the face.
"You said they brought the monster," the Selvator said while his tone seemed damn serious. The air that dude emitted made me feel danger and he just unconsciously released it.
Damn those Selvators! They were really blessed!
"They did," I nodded, "they used some sort of a treasure to create a summoning gate between our world and the dark realm…" I intentionally paused before asking, "have you heard about the dark realm before?"
"Who didn't?" he simply answered, "but I have to admit, a human in such secluded and retarded world knows about that is a surprise for me!"
"I guarantee you'll be more surprised the more you know me," I smiled without adding anymore.
Right now the decision was in his hands to make, not mine. Either he believed me and accepted the temporary alliance I'd propose, or he wouldn't and would stand on the side of the angels like always.
"We'll see about that," he said before adding, "you also mentioned something… a parasite you said?"
"Ask them, not me," I pointed towards the three angels. And the answer to his question came in one simple response.
*Fwoosh!*
The three of them flashed and vanished without even saying goodbye. Fang frowned, as he furrowed his brows and his face changed a bit.
"Told you," I shrugged, "they can't be trusted."
"But you know what they did here, right?" he said, "tell me then."
"This can be done but…" I intentionally paused and he got what I meant.
"You must do anything with a price? I read something about your race regarding such a lowly nature of yours!"
Despite his words being mean and rude, I didn't flinch. Dude, of course I would milk you to the last drop without batting an eye! Even if you called me stingy or a bastard!
"First it's now a lowly nature or anything like this," I said in a calm tone, "this is the rule of the universe. We aren't the only race dealing in such a way. Besides I require two things, one is a fair price, and the other is a contract between the two of us."
"A contract?" his eyes shone and I could feel his suffocating pressure coming out of his raised guard, "What type of contract?"
"A secrecy ensuring contract," I said while exerting every ounce of my strength to not tremble in front of his brutal aura, "this knowledge is something you should know for now."
"But you already know it!"
"I'm different," I said before boosting myself, "I'm a special case!"
"…"
The Selvator dude seems to not believe my words. Fang, I came from the future dude and knew things you would never get to know!
"Bring it out then," he said without changing the look on his face, "and fill in the price you wanted. If that price wasn't fair, then I wouldn't accept the entire deal!"
"Well… About that… You see…" I showed my struggle instead of taking the contract out.
"What?"
"My market is sealed," I helplessly raised both hands in the air, "so I'll have to trouble you for that."
"Here," in a simple wave of his hand, he threw a contract towards my direction. It happened so fast that I even missed the moment he opened the market and purchased it.
Or wait… was he already prepared and had such things in his inventory? Damn! This dude seemed to be your meticulous type!
I filled the content of the contract before throwing it back to him. "I already signed it," I said while watching his face as he started reading the contract.
"This…" he raised his head and his eyes shone in dangerous light. The air he emitted made me retreat a couple of steps, while a graver feeling of danger overwhelmed me.
"This is the fair price for such info," I said while not showing any intention of changing my price, "or else there is no need to make this deal."
*Roar!*
Just as this moment the monster seemed to get a message from the angels. That dude who was trying to kill all the races around finally turned his gaze at me. And as it roared, it raised its head to the sky and released a silent roar.
"It's coming again," I muttered, "we don't have much time. Those bastards just told that parasite that his covering is blown and so he is going to attack in a wild way."
"Wilder than this?!" the Selvator raised an eyebrow while I couldn't help but inwardly sigh. "You still call him a parasite?" He tried to get a clue out of this, but I sealed my lips tight and said nothing.
I only motioned towards the contract. Dude, that price might seem heavy but it wasn't anything to you.
"But this doesn't include this city, right?" he said while his question seemed like an exclamation of surprise and doubt rather than really asking. "Are you this confident in surviving the trap laid in the city?"
"I'm not only confident," I mysteriously smiled and this time I gave off a strong air filled with confidence, "and in the end this city will fall under my reign, and you'll be the one giving me the keys to this city."
"You…" the two of us stood without backing off. Even if he was stronger than mine, I wasn't lower in terms of will power.
127 Signing Contracts
"We'll see about that," he said before waving the contract in his hand, "but this thing… the price you are asking…"
"Don't tell me it's that high," I said while raising one eyebrow.
"It's not about being over or little," he sighed, "but I don't hold such authority to decide for other cities."
The price I asked for was to grant me total access and a chance to contend over the cities lying on this side of the continent. Of course I knew he would bargain, but I didn't consider his inability to decide such a matter.
From the way the angels treated him, he seemed to be a big shot in the Selvator forces. Also that archlord title was something I still held in high regard considering I got my chariot out of one of such archlords.
"Then who can decide such a thing?"
"Unfortunately we still didn't decide on our rulers," he shook his head, "all I can promise is a few places I have men at. As for other places, I can't help."
"How many cities do you control?" I felt a strange curiosity to know how strong this dude was.
"Hmm… if we took out Washington DC, Merryland, and Virginia out of the picture, then I control one third of the cities north of it," he paused before adding, "there is a place up there where a country of your race controlled once before. My territory ends up there. But…"
I knew what he wanted to say. "What about this," I proposed, "if you want, we can make an alliance between the two of us."
"For what exactly?" he didn't hurry to agree before knowing all the details for sure.
"You said you control one third of the regions to the north, right?" I said and he nodded, "then why not we ally together and attack the cities that don't follow your rule?"
"This…" he hesitated. From the way of things, this dude here wasn't the only strong powerhouse in this side of the world of the Selvator race.
And there seemed to be an early on competition between these powerhouses. So why shouldn't I help one side to win over the other? In the end I'd remove many strong does early on and clear the stage from such threats.
"I have to clarify a few things first," he said before adding, "the areas I spoke about aren't under my control. I'm sharing all the cities, counties, and towns with other races."
His meaning was clear, and that wasn't just an honest confession but a mere test. That Selvator was trying to see how I'd react towards such a situation.
"I can promise you to not harm your forces," I said before shrugging, "but for other forces I can't give that promise. Besides…"
My face showed a serious look as I added, "we can help each other while dealing with areas outside your control. But inside the areas you are sharing with other races, I will handle things on my own. On one condition…"
"What condition?" he asked but a faint smile escaped on his face, expressing his delight about my response.
"Your forces will act natural to mine," I said before adding, "but if anything unfortunate happened from yours, then mine has the right to respond in any means I see fit."
"That's fair," despite my hidden threats in the words I said, he nodded and accepted my condition, "and that also applies to us."
"That's natural," I shrugged, "but when I'm attacking these areas, your forces can't be entangled with any of the other races' forces under any situation or else my forces are excused if they hit your forces by mistake."
"I accept that," that was why I loved dealing with Selvators. He didn't even hesitate or took his time to consider what I said. In his eyes, this was a fair trade, a trade based on the honour of our two words and agreement here.
And to him, such an honourable deal was warmly welcomed at any time.
"Let's sign the contract then," I extended my hands and he handed over the contract. I edited the content while trying my best to hide my excitement.
What did such a deal mean? I could now head north with more confidence. I could simply evade the regions that lied under his control and in return I gained a strong ally to help me control the other regions.
"You shared the regions two to one… This…" he paused when he noticed the ratio I proposed at the contract.
"I have to admit that I lowered my share a bit for your sake," I said in a fake honest tone, a tone that made him raise both eyebrows in surprise.
"These regions don't have only Selvator race," I explained, "many races are there besides the resisting human forces. In normal situations, you would have focused over dominating most of the areas under your control. If I guessed it right, then you planned to invade other regions outside your dominance after ten quests or more, right?"
His face was slightly unsightly but he nodded.
"So when I'm giving you such a boost long before the time you planned to move against other regions, then I should have asked for more than just two thirds, right?"
I knew this wasn't totally true. After all, the deal shouldn't be focused on such a concept, but mainly on the total strength of the two sides agreeing here.
Yet I shifted the talk over such a point and highlighted the big importance of such a move to him. And that wasn't just nothing light for him.
After all, in any Selvator's eyes, in any race's eyes, they'd just see their kin as the main contenders in this apocalypse.
"So you plan to move earlier than ten quests from now?" As I guessed, he really planned to take at least ten quests to control most of the regions he shared with other races.
"I plan to move out once the second quest ends," I said, "so I deserve that percentage, and even more, right?"
"If you say so," his face didn't show much excitement like before, but he edited something in the contract before showing me what he did, "I added the condition to start attacking the other regions five quests from now."
"It's fine," I shrugged, "I plan to move one quest from now anyway."
"We'll see about that," he seemed to not believe my words fully, "what about the areas I shared with other races? You didn't specify that here."
He saw through my intentions. After all, I was going to fight this battle on my own. Why should I share it with you?
"If you intend to help," I said, "then I'm glad to share half of the regions with you."
"Half?" he paused as if he was tempted, "that can't be done," yet he refused, "I gave my word over my honour to them. I can't help."
"Then there is no need to add such a thing here," I motioned at the contract, "what I gain is mine, what you gain is yours."
"Ok," at last he signed the contract before it turned into golden specks of light. With these specks of light vanishing in the air, I already placed the first wedge in between the strong races coalition successfully.
And I gained such a strong ally to my side, damn! I wanted to just celebrate!
*Rumble!*
Just as the specks of lights vanished, the entire sky rumbled before a terrifying number of meteorites appeared burning in the depth of the sky.
"Damn!" I sucked in the cold breath of air. That damn Curasee was using the monster's full strength and summoned enough meteorites to devastate at least half of the city!
"This…" the Selvator finally was convinced about the intentions of that monster, "let's put that deal aside, for now we have to work to defeat that thing."
His tone changed. Instead of that calm and domineering tone he showed a faint shaky tone. It seemed he brought his best men here.
"I can kill it on my own," I suddenly said, instantly attracting a fierce gaze from him.
"Then…" he wanted to ask why I didn't do that till now.
"I won't do it for free," I shook my head, "especially if I have a way to leave this city and let you all face this mad dude alone."
"You…" the Selvator's good impression instantly shifted to the opposite. Of course I wouldn't do anything without gaining the best out of it dude!
"I need another contract," I said, "and that one will bind other forces here in the city. It's a temporary deal where it will only apply to this city for now."
"What do you want to do?" he asked with much doubt. He didn't even take a contract out.
Alright dude, it was your forces who were on the verge of annihilation here. Of course I wasn't able to kill that monster without paying a price for it. And if I did so, then my forces would suffer a great blow and that would weaken me by a great margin.
I couldn't accept that! And that was why I sought their help. If I could kill that Curasee and monster, then the races here would pay the toll for that.
As for what I just said about my ability to escape here unscathed, it was a lie. If I tried to run away, then that monster would simply hurry and chase after me.
No matter where I ran to, that monster would keep attacking. And if those angels had another attack of the star weapon in reserve, then my escape would be threatened.
I had enough stat points to defend myself for almost an hour of constant bombardment from these meteorites. But if a star weapon was thrown in the mix, then I doubted I could survive for even half of that time.
Not to mention I killed a lot of races here. If I left them to be hit by those incoming meteorites for such a long time then in the end their bodies would be burnt to ash.
Without their bodies, I'd lose my rich loot waiting for me! I couldn't accept that! And if you added the time needed for this monster to die, a couple hours at least, then even running away wasn't enough to kill that beast.
"I will deal the killing blow to that monster and the parasite it has," I said, "but in return I'll gain full control over the forces in the city. And after killing the monster, your forces will all leave the city and deliver all the gates to me."
"Don't ask for something you can't get!" the Selvator's attitude changed, but I didn't need to speak again. I left that monster give the right answer to such intense response.
*Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!*
The first wave of the rocks fell and almost the ground itself exploded open with bright red light. It seemed like this part of Earth turned into a piece of hell.
The scene all over the city was really shocking. If this continued for an hour, then this city would be wiped out from the face of the world.
"Tick tock… Tick tock…" I spoke at this moment, "the monster will continue to rain down its deadly attack all over the city. If we'll move, then we need to act now!"
"But…"
"I just told you," I shrugged, "I can simply retreat, watch you guys fall here before I step in and kill it. In the end I'll get what I want, and eventually the gates and the city will be mine."
My words were based on the lie I told before. And I said these in a firm and calm tone, a tone of someone confident in what he said.
"If you can do this," he seemed doubtful to what I said, "then why helping us? After all we are all enemies and we never shared a good thing yet."
"The contract we just signed is the reason," I said while trying to give a proper reason for him to believe, "having a city is great, but controlling the stretch of land north of here is much better."
128 Meeting The Races
His eyes told me he didn't totally believe in my words. I just kept my silence while the entire world around me was bombarded with the falling burning rocks.
Even a few fell over my chariot, but my shield defended well against it.
As for my warriors, I already summoned them. I also sent a message to the illusionist to retreat.
Hopefully most of them would survive this wave and come here to safety.
"Alright," he took out a contract before adding, "but if you didn't show any sincerity, the first contract will be cancelled."
I nodded while watching him filling the content of the contract himself. It seemed he was so furious about this deal, far more than the first one.
In fact I expected the opposite. I thought he wouldn't agree to this easily on the first contract, and would smoothly sign the second one.
In the end he was going to sign both of them no matter how he reacted or felt.
"Here," he handed the contract over and I scanned its content. "You didn't specify the time for the forces to leave the city," I looked at him before adding, "I've added a time limit of one hour to evacuate the city. Any second later than that means you will pay ten percent from your inventory."
"This…" his face changed again but I already added this point and signed my name.
"Just sign it," I motioned with my head towards the world outside, "or else we won't have a city to discuss about!"
*Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!*
"Or you won't have your forces to your side again," I added when I saw the look of hesitation festering in his face.
"Alright," he finally conceded, "I hope this is for the best. If you tried to do something…"
"Don't worry about that," I said in a cheerful tone that didn't suit the world of death all around, "the contract binds me to show all my strength during that fight."
The contract turned into specks of golden light before vanishing. By this I already fulfilled what I wanted, and I was very excited about that.
Of course I still had a hidden move that I'd use at the right time.
"What now?" he asked, "will you keep running like that?"
During all this time, my chariot never stopped running. "Go down there and gather up the elites of each race," I said, "we'll start moving once you are ready."
"Ok," he moved towards the stairs before he suddenly paused. "What's the name of that parasite inside that monster?" he asked without turning his face to me.
"I'll send you a friend request now," I searched for his name and race, but I found tons of such names in a big list. "It seems your name is common in your race."
"I'll add you then," he then sent me a friend request by returning to me and putting his strong arm over my shoulder.
[Selvator race Fang added you as a friend]
[Do you agree?]
"I do," once we became friends, I simply opened a chat window and sent one word to him.
[Curasee]
"…!!!"
He was walking towards the stairs before he stumbled and even fell to the lower floor out of his surprise. I hurried to the stairs and all I could see was his body trying to stand up while his face was ashen white.
[You know about them?] I sent into the chat and the response I got was a glaring look from his eyes.
[Are you sure?] he only sent that while continuing to descend without turning back.
[Of course I'm]
[F*ck! Those bastards killed my parents!]
The answer he sent was only this message, but it was enough to tell me everything about how he was feeling right now.
Wow! That was impressive! Much cooler than I even thought!!
He had a death feud with them, and that meant he also had a death feud with the ones who sent them here.
[Don't tell anyone about that] I sent a message, trying to add more fuel to the fire, [Don't even mutter their name to yourself. The angels after all are on their side and they are present everywhere and anytime as y'know!]
I didn't get an answer from him, but I was sure my message added a real taste of hatred towards those angels. If I gained his support by a contract before this, then now I gained his trust.
Hahaha! You damn angels! See? I just snatched one of your best fighters just under your noses! Hahaha!
I was happy, really happy. Those angels would vomit blood now or cry at a corner. I gained that Selvator to my side, not only for this contract deal, but I'd make sure he would be my long life friend.
And now… It was time to kill that bastard!
Of course I knew of a way to kill it. But If I did it alone, I'd have to face the full retaliation of it for minutes.
I waited then for the races to gather. As for my illusionists, those cowards seemed to be running all along my chariot.
So when the attack began, and even before I sent the message to them, they came on board in batches. When I saw their numbers without any signs of losses, I didn't know if I should laugh or get mad!
I checked over my fourth dragon. Luckily he gained his consciousness and was ready to fight again.
In this fight, I needed to use all the power I had. Not only because the contract forced me to do so, but the enemy this time was something I shouldn't underestimate.
And he wasn't alone! That Curasee would definitely get the help from those dirty angels.
As I had nothing to do, I returned to the unconscious jumper and checked his condition. That dude was a badass, but he fell into such a state because he met something he wasn't prepared for.
Just seeing his body weak and soft made me recall something. I firmly shook my head, pushing away any thought that might be distracting at this moment.
"I shouldn't get overconfident," I muttered to myself, "even though he was this close to dying. And he ended up in such a state… That's scary!"
I knew what the jumper experienced could have happened to me without doing any better. Even when he was cursed, and when all the signs pointed out towards that Curasee race, I never thought about that!
And that was the scariest thing about all this. In such an apocalypse, death loomed everywhere and would come at any time if one wasn't well prepared.
"Oh, he came so fast," as I just turned my eyes around, I saw a large number of races led by Fang.
"We are ready," Fang's strong voice came from down below.
"Come on board," I said, "all of you."
Of course this might seem a bit risky, but I wasn't fearing anyone by the contract rule. They were obliged to follow my lead and not betray me in any way.
As they boarded the chariot, I noticed the monster seemed to focus more on my chariot. More bulldozer sized meteorites began to hammer over my chariot's shield.
But I stood with a calm face even while feeling the hideous gazes of those stealthed angels.
They were prepared to attack when the time was right, and I was ready to meet that move with a perfect counter.
"This chariot…" Fang only led a handful of race prodigies to the surface of the chariot. The rest just kept running beside my girl, getting the free protection provided by her skirt, sorry, I meant shield.
"It belongs to my race!" The one who spoke was one of the five dragons who boarded my chariot. "How did you get it?"
"It's a gift," I evilly grinned, "one of your great archlords saw something in me and we became friends. He gave me this as a token of his support."
"You…" of course my face and tone told anyone I was teasing the dragons. But they couldn't do anything towards this. "Good… very good," the biggest in size said while his long and curved moustache trembled from his immense anger.
"We can't touch you for now. If not for brother Fang and his affirmation of this deal, we wouldn't have come here!"
"Our deal is only limited to this city and this fight," another dragon race youth said, "after that we will be enemies again."
"I depend on that," I didn't show any sign of worry on my face or tone, "now let's get to the bottom of this. I'll steer my chariot towards that monster and we will kill it."
"…!!!"
A heavy silence prevailed over all of them except for Fang. The latter already knew about my intentions. But the rest thought they misheard me or something.
"Hahaha, I never knew humans are this funny," one of the most beautiful faces I ever saw laughed while her sexy body swayed to one side as she added in a tempting tone, "if you are this capable, this this sister here will be willing to give you a sweet taste of this…"
She moved her two slender hands over her slender waist and voluptuous breasts. She winked and sent a kiss in the air, and for a second there I swore I saw a small pinky heart made out of foam get in shape before it shattered.
"You…!" that beautiful face of that young and delicious succubus girl changed for a brief second. I knew what happened, she tried to seduce me and my heart pendant stepped in to save my neck.
Damn! Such a race was really scary one!
"Stop trying," I waved my hand, "I'm immune to your beauty."
"No one can resist me forever," she announced in a challenging attitude. For unknown reason, I saw envious gazes from dragons and Berserkers, while the Selovators gave me pitiful ones.
"Are you saying you can kill that beast?" one berserker said. Like the dragons and Selvators, he shared an equal giant body with strong muscles exposed without any clothes over them. His tone was deep and his attitude seemed vulgar.
He got elliptical eyes that had two colours, one was red and the other was blue. His hair shared the two colours as well. His ears released bell-like sounds whenever he moved or spoke.
"I can," I said, "but we'll do it together."
"No offence," one of the Selvators said, "but how do you plan to get near that thing? How do you plan to kill it?"
He pointed towards the roaring and totally crazy monster chasing me like a mountain. Of course they wouldn't think of a possible way to even inflict damage over such a behemoth, anyone would fail to get such a thing.
But I had something that would work perfectly fine over such a monster.
"This chariot can lead us safely towards him," I knocked with my right foot over the surface of my chariot, "but that needs help from all of you."
"Anything you need," at this moment, the all silent Fang finally spoke up, "we will provide."
"Just give us a chance and we will crack open that damned monster with our strength… Ooohhhaaa!"
"Ooohhhaaa!"
Like a chorus, once that big berserker dude shouted and made such a loud war cry, all the berserkers here and down below shouted in unison in response.
That was cool! But dude… Weren't you overestimating your abilities by… too much?
"Humph, if it was a contest of strength, we dragons won't pale in comparison," the leader of dragons' arrogance was stirred up when he heard that shout from the berserkers. "Long live dragons!"
"Long live dragons!"
Another loud shout came from below. Damn! What were they thinking? This wasn't a shouting competition guys!!
"Enough!" Fang's shout was enough to put an end to this useless show, "it can't be killed or even hurt with our current strength, even combined! Open up your eyes and listen to what Hye wants to say first!"
Thanks dude, but who said I got anything better to say here?
129 Let's Curse Them!
"Ahem," I cleared my throat before adding, "the first thing needed from you is to donate anything with high energy value into there."
I pointed towards my pillar with the burning star in its middle.
"The heart of the chariot? Damn! You got something nice here human," the leader of the berserker seemed to get what that pillar usage was.
"This chariot is like a living beast," the dragon leader didn't delay as he added in clear arrogance, "our race won't just gift anything cheap. See these boys? One of our mighty archlords gave that human this gem as a token of our race."
I let him have his boasting moment while only rolling my eyes in response. Those dragons didn't know limits when it came to arrogance or boasting.
"I believe stat points can do fine," Fang said, "also rare ores or precious gems can also work."
"It's a beast heart, we can't just toast anything poor like that," the dragon leader was still immersed in his fake glorious moment, "stat points aren't that bad, but why not donate one hundred top grade gears from each race then?"
"This…" the big berserker standing next to that big dragon turned sharply to him.
"What? Don't tell me you are so poor to not have such a low amount, humph," that dragon youth was trying to show off in front of all of us.
Dude… if not for the fact I knew old dragons had wrinkles over their faces, I'd considered you an old man thanks to that long moustache of yours!
Besides… How did you dare to boast while we had Selvators on our side? On my side?
"Let's all share what we can," Fang said in a decisive tone, "but would that be enough?"
"It will be enough to sustain that beast's attack for half an hour," I thought about this before deciding not to throw anything inside that little star of my chariot.
"Half an hour?!" the succubus girl frowned, "will that be enough to break through its tough skin?"
"My berserkers can do more than that in half an hour!" The berserker leader seemed to get tired from the dragon's boast from earlier and shouted in bravery.
"Dragons won't let the half an hour pass without breaking its defences," the dragon leader spoke in rivalling bravery as well.
"Guys," Fang frowned, "we have to kill it, not to just break its defences!"
"I'll deal with the defences," I said, "all I'm asking from you is to prepare your elites and be ready to jump over its colossal body. Our chance is only limited. Once its defences are broken, you have to use anything to reach its heart."
"Such a behemoth… I bet he has more than one heart," the succubus girl said.
"An expert of hearts like yourself can tell indeed," the berserker leader tried a lousy way to flirt with her, and all he got was a cold shoulder and a loud harrumph from her.
"No matter how many hearts that thing had," Fang said, "we need to kill all of them.
"My dragons can take care of one heart," the dragon leader said.
"Berserkers will deal with another," the berserker leader added.
"Leave one to me," the succubus girl waved her long hair off her shoulders like she was showing her beauty off and not saying something related to this battle.
Fang looked at me. Of course that behemoth had more than one heart. In fact I knew how many hearts it had; a dozed!
Twelve beating hearts were scattered across its massive belly. I knew five places of these hearts, each at the root of its necks. I didn't know if the severed necks had also crushed the corresponding hearts or not.
But that left seven hearts for them to deal with. As three races selected one heart each, that left four without anyone to kill.
If we missed even a single heart, that bastard wouldn't die.
And for unknown reason, I felt from the stern look over Fang that he was also aware of such info. Yet like me he kept this devastating morale info to himself.
"You all go down there and make your weaker boys operate over the defensive platforms," I said before giving Fang a meaningful glance.
"How long do we have?" The berserker leader was harsh in his tone, yet his attitude was practical and sincere.
"I'll give you ten minutes," I thought for a moment, "after that I'll change the chariot's direction towards that monster. We'll have less than five minutes before hitting it."
"Great," the dragon leader was the first to jump off the chariot. He did exactly like my jumper, and the other dragons and all the berserkers just followed his suite.
"Quite barbaric," the succubus girl said in disdain before she looked at me in interest. "I heard you wiped out the illusionists before all this happened. Wasn't it better to leave those hidden dudes present to help?"
"I don't like cowards," I simply shrugged. And this was a fact. For a race like illusionists, with the ability to vanish from sight at any given time, they were famous for being cowards.
"I like you more," she laughed and didn't know if she meant it, her entire body trembled, while her two big and bulging breasts vibrated while rising up and down.
She wore a simple white gown that was so loose to show off many of her hidden treasures. "I just want to tell you that my race isn't a warmongering one," she winked before adding, "after this, let's be best friends, alright?"
"We'll see about that," I copied the standard response from Fang and gave it out straight to her.
"Hahaha, I like you more, hahaha!" she laughed while leading her sexy girls down below.
"Don't lower your guard," when the succubi vanished, Fang said with a deep sigh, "your little toy is only effective as long as they didn't touch any part of you."
I didn't know that, but it was good to have such a warning early on. "I can handle her."
"One kiss and you'll be knotted to her like a doll!" he kept speaking in his warning tone, and I could only bitterly smile.
Couldn't I kill her? Wouldn't I kiss my Rachel? That was indeed a torture!
"What will we do about the remaining hearts?" I asked and as expected, the eyes of that Selvator narrowed when he heard my words.
"So you also know about that… Impressive… I want to know how you know all this!"
"One day I'll tell you," I said before teasing him, "if you were a sexy girl like them, I'd rather tell you in return for being mine."
"Weirdo," he scoffed, "our girls are far more elegant and more beautiful than these bitches!"
I raised my eyebrows when I got what he meant here. For some reason, it felt like he was partially agreeing to the concept of what I just said!
"I can get five of the hearts," I shifted the topic after clearing my throat, "I'll take out the ones at the five necks."
"You know about their locations?!" The tone he spoke with told me he didn't know everything about these dark realm monsters like I imagined.
"I only know about these," I said, "the rest are inside the belly. You have to make sure not a single one escapes."
"Leave it to me," he said in a serious tone.
"If you needed my help back there, just send me a message," I wasn't sure if he could handle the remaining four hearts or not. That was indeed if I considered the three races being able to kill the other three hearts.
The dragons and berserkers were fine, but the succubi was a problem. How come such weak sexy dolls had the strength to kill? I knew they got stats like the rest of us, and cultivation bases as well, but all were directed mainly towards their beauty and sexual skills and abilities.
The highest stat they got was intelligence. As for the cultivation they practised, I was quite sure it was the dual cultivation and allure cultivation ways.
As for the Selvators, they were strong indeed but I doubted their ability to kill four hearts in a short time!
"You just need to deliver us there," it seemed as I was lost in thoughts, Fang read my mind, "don't worry about the rest. We can handle it, we must!"
I nodded while feeling that such rich dudes must have their own treasures to use like myself.
"Alright," I took a deep breath, "get your men ready, we'll move in three minutes."
"They are already here," Fang smiled as he pointed to the chariot, "I brought everyone inside from the start."
"Good," I nodded, "make sure the weakest ones will stay behind to operate the offensive weapons."
"What about this ballista?" He shifted his gaze again towards my big ballista.
"It's not for sale dude," I rolled up my eyes as I reminded him about this simple fact.
"Can you get more?" he didn't lose hope yet, "I want to buy a bunch of these beauties, no matter how expensive they are."
"Dude… If I can get more, do you think I'd just resign to have one?" I inwardly sighed. Of course I had a way to buy more, but I needed to gain more Bringold statues first before doing so.
That impact was like a treasure mine, but it needed a few preparations before I could get more benefits from it.
"My offer stands as long as we don't reach quest fifty," he said and from his words I realised he was aware of the quests that were yet to come.
Damn! Just how big was the gap between humans and other races in this damned apocalypse?
"We are ready," in the span of two minutes, the entire chariot was filled with all the races. I looked around and couldn't help but feel proud of myself.
I turned all the enemies and the ones who worked their hard to kill me and my race into my followers in this battle! I was going to kill that beast, claim the city, gain the race gates, and even get the support of the Selvators and would gain the help of the succubi if I wanted without losing a single troop of mine!
Damn! That was epic!
"Let's go," as everything was set, I turned my chariot while standing at the forefront. The entire deck was filled with the elites from all races, and I also spotted many new races as well.
They brought everything to this battle. That was great!
"What's that?" Just as I took it out from my inventory, the eyes of the leader of the dragons sparkled in greed.
"Not of your business," I smiled without turning my eyes towards him. The next moment a message popped up in front of my face.
[Do you want to use the Anubis god Libra and weigh the soul of your enemy?]
[Warning: you need to select the enemy by either pointing at him or calling his name]
Yes, I took out my Anubis god Libra treasure. An hour already passed and the annoying cooldown ended a long time ago.
"Use it against that thing," I pointed at the monster while waiting in anticipation.
I learnt my lesson quite well this time. I used it early on before reaching there as I guarded against the slow progress rate of this item. It would take a few minutes to complete the curse, just before we would arrive at that monster.
When I said I'd break its defences, that was thanks to this treasure of mine. And I also expected something else, something new from this treasure.
[There are two different souls detected inside the same being]
[Do you want to weigh the two souls?]
[Warning! If you decided to do so, ten million coins are needed to complete the process]
130 Ooohhhaaa!
Yes! It came at last! I only guessed it. If the Libra would weigh the soul in one living creature, then what if that creature had two souls and not one?
I bet everything on such a possibility. And my bet was right in the end.
"I want both," I said while the dragon leader was jumping around me, as if he was dancing.
"Give it to me to see."
"Let me have a look."
"Damn! It's so cool!"
"Can I buy it from you?"
"What do you think? I can let you marry one of our sexy girls and become officially one of our dragon race! Just give this treasure as a gift for pride, give it to me."
He kept blabbering nonsense non-stop while I only ignored him.
Dude… Couldn't you see that I was working to break that monster's defences? Let me focus, for god sake!
[Ten million coins are deducted]
[Warning! One of the two souls is branded of being hostile to any race in the apocalypse]
All of sudden, such a message popped up in front of my face, giving me a delighted surprise.
Wow! Even the system and the godly treasures identified that race to be the enemy of all races! That was unexpected!!
[Warning! The Libra identified one soul as a hostile soul to you]
[Warning! That hostile soul belonged to a race who was cursed by all gods before. Cursing it again will force it in a state of weakness for five minutes]
[Warning! You can pay one million coins and escape the weighing process of that hostile soul]
[Do you want to pay?]
"Pay!"
[One million coins are deducted]
[One soul is being condemned for being hostile to you. The curse will take effect when the other weighing process is over]
[The Anubis god Libra is being activated]
[The weighing process is starting…]
[One percent in progress]
[Two percent in progress]
Finally it started! Like before, the progress bar started to move at snail -like speed. Yet I wasn't worried. After all that monster was an enemy of mine and it would get cursed as well.
Two curses affecting the monster and the Curasee parasite inside it, adding to that the added weakening effect of the curse over the Curasee.
That was more than I wanted. Like this the monster would be rendered powerless and weak for enough time. Hopefully the weakness in that Curasee would be enough to neutralise him in that fight.
"Get ready," as the bar was about to be completed, "once I give the signal, I'll drive the chariot straight towards it. You have to jump and lead your forces all over the belly and start attacking."
To buy enough time for my treasure to be activated, I had to take a detour and wait.
"We'll scatter and focus on single points first," Fang added, "the first mission to create a deep gap into its thick skin and reach its inner organs. Once there, send in all your strongest attacks and try your best to widen the gap and deepen it."
"I'll send my boys once we have that opening to kill directly inside," the berserker leader said in his harsh tone before shouting, "Ooohhhaaa!"
"Ooohhhaaa!" and the rest of his followers echoed his shout as well.
"We'll use all our treasures to do that," the dragon leader said, "but first we need to get there safely first."
"Go and place all your high energy items in that pillar," I motioned to them to move. After all, the gauge metre already reached ninety-five percent. We needed to be ready.
Despite I hated to admit it, what that dragon youth said was right. Our biggest threat now wasn't that monster or Curasee inside it, but the angels.
I raised my head to the sky, and as expected… a red shiny point appeared up high there. The star weapon was being activated, and they were just waiting for us to directly clash with the monster.
[Ninety-nine in progress]
[One hundred percent]
[The weighing process is done]
[The soul you targetted is hostile to you]
[The dark realm monster race Frinsy is cursed by Anubis god Libra]
[The Curasee race Bins is cursed by Anubis god Libra]
[The Curasee race is cursed by all the gods of the universe]
[The old curse effect is activated]
[Their stats are permanently halved]
[The Curasee race Bins got additional curse of double halving his stats]
[Their life span is halved]
[The Curasee race Bins got additional curse of double halving his life span]
[Their forces following him are under temporary effect of the curse for one hour]
[The Curasee race Bins' following forces got an additional curse. This curse is permanent]
[The stats of their followers' stats are halved for one hour]
[The Curasee race Bins' following forces got an additional curse of double halving for their stats. This curse is permanent]
[The contract bound forces are halved in all stats permanently]
[The Curasee race Bins' bound forces by any contract got additional curse of permanently double halving their stats]
[Their cultivation base is halved permanently]
[The Curasee race Bins got additional curse of double halving his cultivation base permanently]
[Their gear stats are halved permanently]
[The Curasee race Bins' gears got additional curse of permanently double halving their stats]
[To raise one stat point, They are needed to use two stat points instead of one]
[The Curasee race Bins got additional curse of needing to pay ten stat points instead of one to raise one single stat]
[Their contract bound forces need double stat amount to raise their stats than usual]
[The Curasee race Bins' bound by contract forces got additional curse to pay ten stat points instead of one to raise one single stat]
[The curse is permanent]
[The curse needs one hundred million coins to be undone off the Curasee race Bins]
[The curse needs one million coins to be undone off the dark realm monster race Frinsy]
[You can't use the Anubis god Libra for an hour]
Damn! I sucked in a cold air of breath when I saw all these crowded messages. That Curasee race… They really enraged the gods!
It seemed that enraging gods wasn't a smart move. Wait, would that also happen to me if I enraged that Anubis god or Hades?
F*ck!
For the first time, I felt a real cold inside my back when I thought about that. I never imagined dealing with gods would become this nasty, but it turned out to be!
I should rethink what I'd do regarding this issue. I planned to join the war god camp, but it seemed I threw myself into such a miserable pit of hell without realising it but it was too late!
No, I could find something to save my ass this time. Yes, I'd sort out things like I always did.
As I calmed down my fear, I shifted my eyes towards that gigantic behemoth. This time I saw the immediate effect of my curse with my own eyes.
The colossal body began to shine in strange bright black light like it was emitting dense layers of smoke. This curse was really brutal, and just as it started to work, the monster roared in panic and agony.
"No… No… F*ck you all! F*ck all the gods and races! F*ck you all!!" it started to curse and I knew these curses were hailing from the Curasee race youth called Bins.
Yes, burn in hell bastard! Get your ass lit by fire! This was the fair answer to all you'd done!
"What's happening?"
"Look… It's getting burnt from inside!"
"Is it safe to board it?" Fang was the one who asked me this. After all, he was smart enough to link all this to me.
"Get ready," and I answered him with action, "I'll drive the chariot towards it. Throw all the high energy items you can hold into the pillar. Once you start attacking it, there is no time to get back and replenish the chariot!"
"Ooohhhaaa!" The answer came first from the berserker leader who seemed to be the most excited one here by what I did.
He even looked more thrilled than what I was already feeling! And the echoing shouts from his men followed.
"Ooohhhaaa!"
"We are ready," the dragon youth said and I could see a mysterious smile over his face. That dude was still eyeing my Libra treasure, and it seemed greed had already got into his mind.
No problem, let's see if you could survive this battle first before thinking about what to do with you.
"Fwoosh!*
With a flash, I instantly pushed my chariot to the front at full speed. It was moving so fast that it created a long trail of after images, looking like it was teleporting and not travelling.
And with that, the real battle kicked in at last.
The monster was in deep agony. After all, the curse wasn't just at the Curasee race Bins, but also against the dark realm monster race Frinsy as well.
But just as we started to get closer, a red beam shone all of sudden and fell and surrounded us.
"This…" the face of the succubus girl changed once that red beam appeared.
"It's the deadly angelic weapon!"
"Watch out!"
"Run for your lives!"
Strangely shouts that asked everyone to jump spread over like fire in dry weeds. I frowned when I spotted this. Damn! Don't tell me there were also traitors in the ranks of those races as well?
Could it be possible?
"No one move," yet my shout came to stop the early chaos from spreading over, "as long as you are inside this chariot, you are going to be safe!"
"Stop screaming and get ready," Fang shouted as he stood by my side and showed his support at this delicate turn of events moment.
Damn those angels! I never saw this blow coming!
Despite our shouts, many of the forces here showed signs of chaos. The deck was already crowded, and soon I saw the origin of all this.
"Traitors!" I instantly shouted.
"Anyone moves, kills without doubt… Ooohhhaaa!" The leader of the berserker was the fastest to react here.
In fact once the red beam fell and the shouts erupted, the faces of the big names in dragons and berserkers showed their hesitation and doubt.
Of course that weapon was nasty and infamous for its brutality and mercilessness. But once things started to get out of control, and I shouted traitors, they made up their minds.
"My girls, sit!" The succubus girl gave another order, yet it inspired others to follow her suit.
"All my boys… Sit!" the dragon leader shouted as well before Fang also gave the same order and that berserker leader.
Just from the war cry shout of that berserker leader I could tell that almost one third of his selected forces were turning their blades and killing those standing around them.
They weren't an exception, as many did the same and that turned the place into a slaughterhouse!
"Let's go!" Fang didn't even wait for everyone to sit as he led his elites and trusted Selvators and threw himself into such chaos.
"We'll go… Ooohhhaaa!" the berserker leader followed suit and shouted while his men repeated that war cry like it was their sacred song!
Then the dragon youth led the others of his kin to follow as well.
"What's happening?" the succubus girl came to my side and asked in fear.
I knew this feeling, I'd seen this scene once before. I had that quest which I had to protect fifty percent of humans. And I still recalled how bitterly I lost that day thanks to such treason.
Damn! How did I never think about this? I never even imagined there would be traitors like ours inside those races as well!!
How? Why? And what for? Many questions popped into my head. The most important thing now was to hurriedly settle everything fast.
After all, the monster was still suffering alongside those damned Bins of the Curasee race and this was our moment to jump on their throats!
Sh*t! Sh*t! Sh*t!
Even before the final battle even started, we already lost almost one half of our elite forces. Even when we had them all I had my doubts about our ability to succeed this mission.
And now?…
Sh*t! Sh*t! Sh*t!
131 Fighting Minions
The fight raged hot while we were heading straight towards the monster. I first opened my chariot interface and was much relieved after seeing the number of stat points inside.
'One hundred million… Damn!' I inwardly cursed in delight before closing the interface. At this moment I regained my composure.
Even if half of the forces here were killed, that wasn't an issue anymore. As long as the chariot's defensive shield had such massive fuel to support, we were fine.
In the next minutes I stopped my chariot entirely while watching the ongoing fight. The three four races were fighting among each other with the ones they brought from other races as well.
From what I saw, most of the traitors came from the four big races, which was a surprise for me. What benefits were these angels after?
As I saw this scene, I couldn't help but think about my channel. Damn! Such a scene would create a sensational response if I broadcasted it!
I recalled I still got three more universe wide chances to broadcast my videos to everyone. No to mention the sponsor package that I still didn't use.
Yes, that video was worth a little push and a sponsor to other big channels in the entire universe.
The angels betray the races! Damn! This title was a killer!
"Won't you help?" That succubus girl whose face was ashen white asked.
"If you want, be my guest," I simply motioned for her to advance, but she didn't.
She was scared, and that made me recall Rachel and her reaction when I fought that shadow illusionist girl and the Selvator and dragon youths later on.
A race that depended entirely over their sexual body and alluring abilities was doomed to not survive alone.
In fact I thought about joining the fight. After all, my warriors were unique and they could kill others easily without getting harmed.
But I refrained from doing so when I noticed that many traitors belonged to the dragon race elites. That was strange. After all, weren't dragons rich?
I knew they didn't have such commitment to honour like Selvators, or pride in their way to fight like the Berserkers. But seeing this scene made me think about changing the title of my video.
Watch the traitors of the dragon race backstab other races with the help of the angels… Yes, that was an exciting title, considering the far famous reputation of the dragon race over the dark angelic race in the universe.
*Roar!*
Just during the fight, an ear deafening roar came from the cursed monster up ahead. This bastard was trying to control the curse and adapt to it.
We needed to move… We needed to act now!
"Attack it!" As I decided, I shouted at my Gollems and made them aim the ballista towards the monster.
Of course the traitors tried to harm my beautiful little toy here, but they were all smashed to pulps when faced with my strong Gollems.
"What are you doing?!" At this moment I resumed my chariot's movement and headed in flashes of light towards the monster. "We have no one to fight it!!!"
"Have you forgotten me?" I simply said. This fight would take slightly over ten minutes to be concluded. The sounds of fighting came from down below, meaning more traitors were in the ranks deep in the chariot.
"I'll leave everything here to you and others," as the chariot was getting closer to the cursed monster, I said before jumping on the edge of my chariot.
"You are crazy!!" she screamed in panic but amidst the loud wind howling in my ears, her screams seemed like a distant echo.
"I'll kill you!!!" the monster roared in deep pain while its gigantic tail arched high above its head. It also raised two limbs, arched its head, aiming to use everything to kill me!
"L… Leave this place… Leave it… To me…"
Just at this moment, a familiar voice came in a shaky and weak tone. Damn jumper, you really took a nice long nap while I was lashing my ass in this battle!
"You have the lead," as he was awakened, I simply shifted the leadership of this chariot over to him. Before doing so, I made sure the chariot would fly in a curved arch course, evading the incoming attacks without much difficulty.
And then I jumped.
The monster was colossal, I already knew that. But when I jumped and became all alone midair, I felt a strange feeling at this moment.
It was like it was the ground and I was just jumping over it. The red beam of light seemed to evade the monster by some mechanism, as it passed through it without even touching anything of it at all!
F*ck you angels! I planned to make the red beam create the first hole in that colossal body.
Yet that also meant I didn't need to wait until the chariot was passing over the monster. I could have easily jumped earlier if I knew so.
"I'll f*cking kill you!"
The monster roared in boundless hatred and anger, yet thanks to the curse its speed was much decreased and its brutality seemed to face a handicap.
*Thud!*
I finally landed over its body. The moment my feet touched the ground, I raised both arms in the air like a real god.
"Come forth my valiant warriors! Tear its body apart, turn this damn bastard into dead meat."
*Fwoosh!* *Fwoosh!* Fwoosh!*
Large number of my warriors were summoned in a blink of an eye. "Scatter," without even looking at them, I gave such an order before taking two swords of mine out.
I lacked strong skills, that was something I was aware of. But that didn't mean I couldn't kill its heart. The place I fell upon might be considered its shoulder, just close to the places of its ripped heads.
I decided to start from there.
"I'll f*ck you! Eat your meat and drink your blood!" Just as I started to run, that loud and noisy monster kept screaming and cursing.
Dude… If you could do anything, then do and stop speaking!
Yet I knew it was just talking bullshit and wouldn't be able to do anything for now. The curse that hit the monster was a godly curse, but the one that hit the Curasee race Bins came from all the god communities combined.
How deadly was that curse? I was just seeing the real terror of standing against gods. This was a lucky moment for me, as I learnt it wasn't safe to oppose gods!
The skin of that monster was covered in parallel and deep ridges that turned its skin like a dried up terrain. I knew these were mere wrinkles in its skin, yet to me they looked so big and deep.
At some points I had to jump so I wouldn't stumble. But after a couple of minutes, I spotted something.
"This… Can he summon smaller versions of him?!!"
What I saw was really shocking. All over the immense body of that colossal monster, I saw swarms of protrusions coming forth from the deep ridges in its skin.
These protrusions expanded to the surface like being formed out of clay. In mere seconds, they separated, and had swift changes over their surface like water waves before they ended up in the form of the same monster.
*Roar!*
If it was one or two, then such a roar would look funny. But I swore there were at least hundreds of thousands of them at this moment.
A unified roar coming from such a terrifying figure was something scary!
I even felt the monster body underneath my feet tremble out of such a roar!
"You prepared a welcoming party for me?" yet I didn't panic. Indeed this was something I didn't know before, but how could such miniature versions of it be strong?
It was leaning to quantity over quality, just the perfect type of battle I loved to have.
"Attack!" without needing to shout like that, my warriors already plunged at the enemies around.
And with them I summoned the last batch of my personal guards; the dragons!
Four big and mighty dragons appeared side by side with twenty smaller and much weaker dragons. They circled around me for a few seconds before they started to attack.
At this moment I had nothing to think about. All I did was to raise both swords, and jump over these miniature monster forms and slain them.
Like I thought, their bodies weren't that hard to crack and they weren't that deadly at all. They could use the physical form of attack of that monster; like tail and heads, but nothing threatening beyond that.
Luckily they didn't have that annoying meteorite shower ability, or else if such a grand army used such an ability, I'd be doomed!
*Bang!* *Bang!*
Each minion of them needed only two hits from my swords to smash into powder. They had weak defences, and even when they hit me with their tails and heads, I felt little pain.
Yet their numbers were really massive! In the first few minutes they surrounded me and started to come from every direction.
"Burn them," as I couldn't move forward anymore, I finally gave the signal for my dragons, "clear a path for me up ahead, now!"
The sounds of battle from each corner were earth shattering. I didn't recall I experienced such a violent battle in the apocalypse till now. The dragons flew once before they roared and opened doors of hell over the minions' heads.
The fire that came down over them was tyrannical! They didn't stand a chance against such brutality of my dragons. Anyone who got hit didn't just turn to powder, it melted down and released thick tongues of black smoke before they ended up in a small pile of hardened rocks.
This was weird, but I didn't give a damn about this for now. The path in front of me was wide open, only fire was still raging wildly and forced me to walk slower than before.
But walking slowly was much better than not walking at all.
Just as I ran for five minutes, I got surrounded once again. This time I stood on the edge of a deep dark abyss, with a diameter of over twenty metres at least!
This was where one head was, this was the place of the first heart.
"Attack!"
"Ooohhhaaa!"
"Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!*
Just as I was thinking about how to get down there in such conditions, I heard such a loud shout coming from high above before waves of brutal attacks rained down like falling water droplets.
And anywhere they fell, mighty explosions occurred without exception.
"They finally ended that damn fight," I said with a grin when I spotted my chariot flashing like a meteorite in the sky, heading towards the direction of the monster.
And the jumper seemed to get a good hold over the chariot and its offence. He unleashed all the chariot's attacks, pulse energy beams, and even the dreadful ground separation ability.
The chariot was flashing and creating afterimages while it was dragging along its course a massive sized piece of land. That was extracted by the ground separation ability, and I knew the jumper's intentions once I saw it.
Yet the chariot was still bathed with that deadly red beam even after all this time. It seemed the angels went overboard this time and even sold their souls to the devil just to get enough blessing points to unleash the longest attack of that star weapon.
Yet with all the stat points stored within the chariot, there was no worry over its safety. And once the chariot passed over the monster, it came slightly closer to its immense body, and the races jumped, and that giant piece of land fell.
"I can go in now without worry," as I watched the red beam of that star weapon vanish when it came closer to the monster body, all my worries were wiped out.
"Come," I shouted at my dragons before adding, "two of you, fifteen of you will stay here… The rest will follow me," I pointed at the four massive dragons at first, before pointing at the smaller ones later on.
And without any hesitation, I took a leap of faith directly falling into that pit before one of the two big dragons of mine came swiftly and caught my body.
"Let's kill it!" I said and this time I was laughing. The angels tried their best, and the Curasee tried hard to kill me… But they failed… And I wouldn't.
132 [Bonus chapter] Killing Hearts
The hole I jumped in was so dark that I couldn't see even my forces. But I could hear their flapping wings, and that was enough.
"Open fire!" Once we entered, I gave the order. The dragon breaths coming from them lightened up the place.
And at this moment I saw what was inside that deep hole, a small hill that kept trembling in regular rhythm.
A beating heart!
So the system only removed the necks, and didn't kill the hearts.
"Keep firing!" the distance from the edge of the hole and that beating heart was around twenty to thirty metres in length. But for some reason, I felt it was like a mile!
The dragon breaths kept firing until they turned the entire place inside into a scorching hot, brightly lit orange coloured world.
But even with that, the heart didn't seem to get any damage.
"Stop," I said before patting on the bigger dragon I was riding, "get down."
The place was really hot and tight the more I descended. Once we reached that heart, I noticed some sort of semi-transparent membrane that covered it up and shielded it from any damage.
"A shield?" I frowned, "try to break it using your claws."
*Clang!* a sound like two sharp swords clashed against each other appeared from the membrane.
"Tough against physical attacks and dragon breaths… will it also be this strong against the grenades?" I thought before discarding such thoughts.
After all, I had to kill at least five of these hearts, and I only had three of such grenades left.
"If it's a sturdy ground… then let's see how it will do against my shield warriors… Come!"
I called back twenty shield warriors and summoned them for now. "Smash this place by your technique," I said, and they roared in response.
*Bang!*
The twenty unleashed their combined technique as a giant form of shield appeared and flew towards the ground.
The sound that came from the clash was loud and noisy. Sparks of fire appeared across the long trail of the technique.
"A small break… at least they scratched that damn shield… Come out!"
I recalled and summoned all the shield warriors. As the technique faded, a shallow bridge appeared in the shield. Yet it wasn't deep enough to reach the heart.
"Be ready to attack," I said to my dragons, "the shield is closing up and healing itself. So be prepared to not miss this."
*Roar!*
My dragons roared and I was just speaking to my two big ones. They were the only ones here able to kill that heart. As for the others, they were just a bonus.
*Bang!* *Bang!*
My shield warriors arranged themselves into two big groups, one after another. They worked together for so long already under my command and it seemed they developed some form of understanding.
Their attacks came as one widened that gap and the other deepened it. At the same moment the dragons were hovering on top of that thirty metres long ridge and showering it with their breaths.
*Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!* *Rumble!*
The first sound I heard aside from the clash between the shield warriors' technique and the shield was a loud drum regular beating sound.
It was the sound of the heart, and that strong voice didn't last for long as it was stopped abruptly with a terrifying rumble.
The attack of my dragons finally reached and penetrated it. Without the need for me to check, that heart was already gone!
"The shield vanished," I noticed that as the heart was killed, the protective shield ceased to exist. The gap widened all of sudden and it even extended beyond the size of this hole.
"Come back," I recalled all the warriors here and pointed to the new tunnel, "take me down, the rest stay on alert."
The dragon was about to descend with his fast speed when I patted on his back, "slowly," I said, and he followed my instructions.
The new tunnel was at least double the size of the one above. It also extended almost double the distance before I finally reached a wider floor where something was smashed into pieces.
It was the heart. It was the size of a large rock, like a boulder that just fell from a giant mountain and smashed on the ground.
Black thick fluid was oozing out from it. I landed on the ground which was all turning black at a slow pace.
"This fluid might be useful one day," I took out a liquor and sucked all the black fluid from my heart. The walls of the smashed heart seemed like a thick layer of armour. "I'll take you as well."
I didn't want to leave a single thing behind. Who knew if these heart pieces were valuable or not. In the span of five minutes, I cleared everything and was about to go back until I noticed something else.
"That… it's the source of all this blackness here," I stood over the central part of the place that heart took before. And there I found a small hole, with a black lustre coming from the surface of something looking like a gem.
"Ouch…" as I tried to touch it, I felt stingy pain and rapidly withdrew my hand. "Won't let me take you? Humph!" As this happened, I was pretty sure this thing was a treasure.
So what? Even if it caused me such pain, I wouldn't flinch and return without taking it.
"Come in!" I withstood the pain and placed my hand over it before moving it inside my inventory. It was only ten seconds, but half of my hand turned all black during this time.
"It's like frostbite," I muttered as I examined my hand. I was now flying outside the entire hole with my dragons. I felt that black thing did something to my hand with its energy, but it wasn't that serious to worry about.
I felt the blackness was slowly fading. It was at snail speed but it meant I didn't need to worry about it for now.
*Fwoosh!*
As the dragon took me out, I got a look over the brutal fight going on all over the body of this monster.
Everywhere one could spot minions piling up around a few elites fighting bravely. Of course against numbers, strength would face a decent challenge. I even saw a few races killed under such a flood of minions.
But the general situation didn't look that bad. At the same time I noticed something else.
"This dude… he is all quiet for some time now," I frowned. Was it thanks to the curse or what? That monster kept roaring and sending empty threats before I went to kill its heart.
Was killing the heart enough to shut its mouth? Or it caused enough damage for it to be greatly weakened? I didn't know and didn't care. For now my top priority was to go to the next hearts and smash them.
"Come back," yet I first called off all my warriors scattered here. I did that deal with the races to save up my warriors and decrease the losses as much as possible.
As the races came here, they had to exert their full power in dealing with these minions and kill the hearts.
"Let's go," I only left my dragons out, "kill freely until we arrive," and I didn't hold them back while we were flying towards our next target.
As we did before, the next three hearts were found and killed in the same way. I stored everything up, and now my two hands were all black till midway up to the elbows.
Yet I wasn't happy. After all, the last heart belonged to the one intact head. Something told me that an acting calm monster was preparing something for me in my head.
"Stop!" As I reached that intact neck, I had to admit it was a terrifying scene. The neck extended high in the air like it was a true world tree of legends.
It was all still, not moving or swaying at all. I didn't risk advancing to it before knowing if it was safe or not.
I looked up again and that head looked like a tiny sesame bead from my spot. But that small thing up there was the most dangerous weapon in the monster arsenal.
I had to be careful, so I summoned one of my dragolves and sent him to test that neck.
I stood on top of my dragon, almost thirty metres away from that neck.
*Rumble!*
As expected! The moment my warrior came closer to the neck, almost ten metres away, the entire neck shook and some sort of a wave appeared in a pulse wave that swept across my warrior, sending him flying backward in a flash.
It was a pitch black wave, yet luckily it didn't get to me. Once it crossed twenty metres, it vanished in thin air. Yet my guess was right; that damn bastard wasn't going to let me have its heart this easily.
"Take me down," my dragolve warrior was sent one hundred metres behind me. He fell and didn't stand up or show any signs of life.
I selected him as he was one of the most powerful offensive warriors I had. Plus I could easily summon another one if he was dead.
"This…" as I landed by his side, and the dragons flew all around, killing any minions daring to come here, I noticed something familiar.
"It's the same black thing that I got…" I raised my two hands and compared the black colour in it with the one that covered the entire body of my poor warrior.
Luckily he wasn't dead… Yet. his heart was weakly beating, and he didn't respond to my attempts to wake him up.
"Come inside," as he wasn't dead yet, I took him back and hoped he would wake up after a period of rest.
But now… How could I take down that damn heart?
Even if everyone did their part and killed all the hearts, this wouldn't kill the monster and the Curasee inside. All the hearts must be killed, and I had to kill this monster before the life force of the Curasee would vanish.
I didn't come here just to kill the monster, I needed to kill the Curasee by my hands. I had to, or else I'd miss a really precious and extremely rare opportunity like this.
"What should I do?" I stood in my place on top of the dragon, crossing my arms and deeply pondering about this issue.
*Buzz!*
It was a soft voice, yet amidst my deep state of thinking I instantly noticed it. As I looked at its source and instantly froze!
"This…" I followed that thin trail of pitch black colour that appeared out of nowhere. The buzz sound came from the neck, as it shone slightly in black light while that previous energy pulse which shoved away my warrior appeared as a pale layer of fog.
But it was all related to that pitch black line. I followed it with my eyes before it vanished under the crowd of the minions.
"Let's go," I had a vague feeling that this black long line held the door key to that last heart. Without any hesitation I gave my dragons the order and pointed with my hand towards one direction, the direction where that black line vanished.
"Clear the ground," I said when I couldn't follow that line in the middle of all these minions. The dragons opened gates of hell over the minions, sweeping a large area clear and letting me see that line clearly.
"Keep flying there," I started my chase after that line. I had to reach its origin, I had a strong gut feeling about this.
The chase continued for ten minutes until I reached the source. And once I reached there, a flash of realisation hit me.
"That's interesting!"